Border Bravado

The last stop on our trip was Amritsar, a city of about 1.1 million in northwest India, about 30 km from the Pakistan border.  While the city is famous as a Sikh stronghold and is home to the holiest Sikh temple in the world, the Golden Temple, every tourist in the city also tries to make it to a border-closing ceremony while in Amritsar.  We squeezed into the tiniest van I have ever seen for a $1.50 roundtrip ride with 4 other tourists, and it was definitely worth it, it was one of the most hilarious things I have Ever. Seen.  Knowing the tense relationship between the two countries, I was slightly nervous about going, but the people at the hotel reassured me that this was not the place for a massive shoot-out or terrorist threat, and after seeing it, I think they were right.

We arrived and walked to a checkpoint where men and women were split into separate lines for a security pat-down.  They actually took my compass but left Max with his already opened water bottle, an interesting combination I thought. (I managed to get my compass back afterwards, thankfully).  Then we were ushered into the 'VIP' section because we had foreign passports, where we were patted down again before being allowed to take seats…in a huge stand of bleachers. Yes, they have ginormous bleachers at the border.  On both sides, sort of facing off, with a long corridor and a huge gate in the middle, with an Indian and a Pakistani flag waving.  The 15 minutes before the ceremony began reminded me of a high school party, or a drunken rave…there were lines of people waiting to run down the corridor in front of the Pakistanis waving an Indian flag…there were men selling propaganda videos…there was LOUD dance music…and a clump of dancing teenagers supervised by men in military uniforms with big plumed hats, complete with a few overweight women in saris grooving along to the beat.  It was surreal.

Once the ceremony started, it didn't get any less bizarre.  Soldiers on both sides of the border took turns puffing up their chests, barreling down the corridor with HUGE goose steps (I really thought their noses were in danger from their feet!), and stiffly saluting at the gate before lining up at the flagpoles.  There was a non-militarily dressed cheerleader man who in between soldiers goose-stepping, would mill around the soldiers, pepping them up, and leading the crowd in chanting 'Hindustan!  Hindustan!'  There was similar antics and crowd yelling on the Pakistani side.  There was also some sort of weird voice competition, where an officer on one side or the other took a deep breath and tried to yell for as long as possible into the microphone without breathing; as soon as he started, the one on the other side would join in, and it seemed to be a competition to see who could hold on the longest.  Whichever side was longer would induce instant mad cheering and flag waving by the home crowd.  The ceremony ended with a slow flag lowering (diplomatically at the same time) and a stirring CRASH of the border gates, and of course much saluting and goose stepping backwards.  The crowd was slow to leave, with many rushing to the gate to get a glimpse of the other side first.  And apparently this happens every day - I wonder what the soldiers think of the whole deal?!

ps. Video coming soon on YouTube